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Jacquard by Google transforms clothing

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Re: Jacquard by Google transforms clothing

#111

Post by jamestimmins »

StefanKarpinski wrote: post #73

This may be the worst, least informative technology website I've ever seen – and that is a high (low?) bar. It fails the "what is it?" test with spectacular aplomb. And never have I learned less from a "learn more" page. “Music should keep you moving, not make you look at your phone.” Um, yeah, ok, thanks for that helpful information.

Agreed. I did find this on one of the pages however:

"Tiny electronics contained in the flexible snap tag connect the Jacquard Threads in the jacket’s cuff to your mobile device. The snap tag lets you know about incoming information, like a phone call, by giving you light and haptic feedback. Inspired by a strap that you would see on a cuff, it looks and feels like it’s a part of the jacket. The tag also houses the battery which can last up to 2 weeks between USB charges."

Re: Jacquard by Google transforms clothing

#112

Post by Raphmedia »

45h34jh53k4j wrote: post #9

http://www.levi.com/US/en_US/category/men/collections/levi-c... Why is this only in skinny hipster sizes like Slim Fit Levi's 511s. Damn you malnourished SF hipsters (I guess you cant afford to eat with Bay Area prices, also you keep buying new phones instead of food).

Slim Fit isn't a size but a cut.

Re: Jacquard by Google transforms clothing

#113

Post by Brakenshire »

nijynot wrote: post #57
anindha wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The idea is that every piece of clothing one day will incorporate this.

But why not buy a single smart watch and keep your clothes normal? I mean, it's seems redundant to make every single piece have similar tech functionality when you can have one watch that works with all clothes. If you choose to have different tech in different clothes, I don't see why you don't want to combine everything into a watch. Though there are edge cases where you can want to split it up. But then your custo…

In this case, it's possible you would actually wear one jacket whenever you were cycling, and the gestures might only be useful for that application. A cycling jacket also probably needs to be water and wind resistant, breathe well, and include reflective panels. The latter at least seems to be included in this design. The idea of clothing engineered to a particular purpose is a good one, in my opinion. For instance to use woven retroreflective material (which reflects back bright light, but looks normal in ordinary conditions) in a casual jacket you would use whenever you were cycling, but could also as a general purpose jacket, rather than having to carry around and put on a lot of separate and unwieldy reflective gear.

However, it does need to use a standard api for communication between the snap tag, phone and jacket, and use a standard physical connector. I'm not going to spend $350 for a jacket that can only be used with one company's proprietary technology, and which has to be replaced when the next generation snap tag / dongle comes out.

Re: Jacquard by Google transforms clothing

#114

Post by rtkwe »

simias wrote: post #62
colorincorrect wrote: post #6

Watching the YT video, is this just a denim jacket with a touch sensor on the sleeve cuff?

Yeah I don't really get it either. Why not sell the sensor on its own so that I can wear it on anything I want? What's the added value of having it sewn to your jacket? It's not like it's particularly small or discreet.

They can’t really, the thing Jacquard was attempting was weaving an interactive surface into a piece of clothing. The clip on sensor is just a little glue interface that takes the sensor information from the cloth and extracts gestures and send them to the phone.

Re: Jacquard by Google transforms clothing

#115

Post by mkempe »

Joseph Marie Jacquard was a genius [1]. Google should not use his name and implicitly appropriate his invention without proper acknowledgement. It bothers me that Google hijacked Jacquard's name for their own project, especially with such emphasis on looming.

With decency, they could at a minimum have acknowledged his creations, influence, and inspiration. Their about page [2] does not acknowledge Jacquard's existence. Even worse, Google has trademarked the name "Jacquard", to appropriate that name in relation to tech-infused weaving [3].

Contrast with the Pascal programming language -- Blaise Pascal was honored explicitly when this language was named after him; the creator, Niklaus Wirth, never dreamed of using this name without explicit tribute, since the naming was intended as a tribute.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Marie_Jacquard

[2] https://atap.google.com/jacquard/about/

[3] https://www.trademarkia.com/jacquard-86643715.html

Re: Jacquard by Google transforms clothing

#116

Post by rtkwe »

simias wrote: post #66
anindha wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The idea is that every piece of clothing one day will incorporate this.

What a waste. Why not just have a standard latch design on your clothes and let the user connect and disconnect their devices? It would allow for upgrade without having to discard everything. Do you really want to buy a new jacket every time you upgrade your touch gizmo or vice-versa? Do you want vendor-locked clothes? It's very user-hostile IMO.

That's basically where this goes if I'm understanding your right, but this is the first one and they're the only one making it so there's no standard. There's two totally separate items here. There's the cloth with the woven in conductive fibers and the Bluetooth dongle that takes that touch data and translates it into commands by extracting gestures. If this takes off in a big way and more companies get into it you'll probably see a standard develop around the attachment between the woven sensor and the dongle to communicate to your phone.

Re: Jacquard by Google transforms clothing

#118

Post by bsimpson »

Mz wrote: post #68
addedlovely wrote: post #51

"The Jacket is designed to withstand up to 10 washes with the Jacquard snap tag removed but your experience may vary by usage and wash conditions" "Note: You can wear the Jacket in the rain, but if the Jacket becomes too wet it may not reliably detect gestures. Allow the Jacket to dry and resume using. The snap tag is resistant to rain and splashing, but it is not fully waterproof" Sure it's really "Specifically tail…

Yours is at least the second comment talking about it this way, but I am not seeing the word cyclist on the site. I am seeing Jacquard currently offers abilities designed for urban commuters. and Levi’s® Commuter™ Trucker jacket. Did I miss the part where they say cyclist?

"commuter" is Levi's jargon for cyclist (well, cycle-commuter).

They call their bike-specific pants the Commuter line.

Re: Jacquard by Google transforms clothing

#119

Post by lallysingh »

misterbowfinger wrote: post #42
SurrealSoul wrote: post #17

I feel like we are pushing this wearable tech thing too hard. Pushing all the cool ways we can put stuff into things (ordering pizza from your shoes, snapchatting from your glasses) but they ALWAYS boil down to "You can touch XYZ instead of your phone to pause your music". When we will get some decent applications, instead of enhancing the form

One way to look at wearable tech is as an extension of the surface of your smartphone. If you can interact with your phone throughout your clothing, there could be a lot of room for (warning, buzzword!) innovation there.

Yes, this. If we didn't have phones as much as pervasive connectivity, through whatever network link is nearby (a phone, a watch, or a building with wifi), then the idea of how we interface with software changes. We could do it though voice like Alexa, or through smaller interface devices including those woven in.

Re: Jacquard by Google transforms clothing

#120

Post by rburhum »

firasd wrote: post #38

I dig it. Ever since 'smart watches' started I've felt like grown men wearing digital watches is a bit awkward. I'd prefer more subtle things like Google Glass or tech woven into clothing fabrics. We definitely need to get beyond smartphones and into more ubiquitous form factors so we don't evolve into creatures with our upper backs and necks contorted downwards. I always liked this UI from Mission Impossible 5: http…

Google Glass == subtle? I don't think so. It still needs a lot more time to evolve into an acceptable form factor.
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